Reel Gore Releasing's: Masks (2011)

First and foremost, I have to mention this horror label Reel
Gore Releasing created by Cult Epics founder Nico B and producer Steve Aquilina.
This company is amazing in the reality of how much love, passion that they have
given their products. They clearly gear the product releases to the fans of
this style of entertainment, and that makes these releases all the more
important. Masks is a fabulous product. A high quality Blu-ray, which comes
along with the DVD version and a CD of the film.

This is a very interesting horror mystery film that clings
to the watcher’s thoughts. It’s a thriller that bleeds tension and an overall
complex story that displays itself in many tight, tense moments of vivid Giallo
Italian style suspense. This is clearly a wonderful throwback and homage to the
classic style of Italian filmmaking known as Giallo. This is a mystery weaved
around the art of classic cinema and the deep recesses of the murder mystery
angle of Giallo cinema that I love, and grew up with. This explores all the art
form of Dario Argento, Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci. This expresses such Giallo
masters like Paolo Cavara and Alfonso Brescia. This bleeds the very foundation
of all those wonderful classics of this style of cinema. Giallo over the years
has come back here and there. Some are hits, some are misses and I have seen
some that really stand out, and I personally think this is one of them.

This is a brutal perfection of pure cinema throwback bliss,
that any horror fan should absolutely embrace.

This low budget wonder truly shines. So many try to capture
the intensity and unique quality of classic Giallo but fail so horrible, or at
least fall flat in just being another watchable horror film, but Masks is not
one of those. Masks, shines in capturing what is so great about the classic
Giallo. Masks is one of those unique gems that fans of this style of
entertainment will embrace or at least should. I was transfixed on its story
and conclusion. The characters, direction and overall feel is something that
stands out.

The story is about your main character named Stella. Stella is
accepted into a private school. She enters a drama school in hopes that her
dreams and wishes of becoming a stand out actress can further itself through
learning. Stella ends up deeper then she could have imagined due to the
strange, odd, weird, and sometimes hostile persons in reality. Now she has a
goal, in learning to further her acting. What she soon discovers is the school
has a haunted past through a method that is mysterious and forbidden. The
original school owner created a method that sent performers to their mental
ability to stay sane. This form of acting is said to create a sense of madness
in growing oneself to the next level of acting mastery. This form achieves one
to adventure into the realms, in a somewhat reality of entering evil, or a
sampling of darkness inside the soul. This leads to a roller coaster of
madness, insanity, murder, and lots of blood and mystery.

Written and directed by Andreas Marschall. I became a huge
fan of Marschall back in 2004 with his film Tears of Kali. To me I saw an
instant uniqueness about his style of filmmaking. Not only does he direct his
films, but he writes them, creating a personal stamp through a tight haunting
style of direction to a mysterious brutal story telling that comes across for
the watcher. Both Masks and Tears of Kali are worthy to praise in that they
have the diehard fan of horror at heart. Marschall is honored with this amazing
special edition Blu-ray/DVD + CD edition by Reel Gore Releasing.
This is a stunning and utterly amazing high quality product that has to be seen
and experienced to fully grasp the brilliance of it.

Starring the amazing beautiful Susen Ermich as your main
lead character Stella. Which I have to add that this is her first feature film
starring role. Which might I add is amazing because she captures the part
perfectly. She makes you believe her role. She owns the tension and terror.
Also starring the gorgeous Magdalena Ritter. Ritter is another flawless
performer that I feel shines in her many roles in cinema. I have watched her
performing many years now and I have always felt she has never got the true
acting limelight she deserves. Also starring another wonderful German actor Norbert
Losch. Losch is a great character actor, one who always shines on screen no
matter how small or large the part is.

I have to mention the absolutely beautiful, dark and
stunning cinematography. Sven Jacok-Engelmann did a fantastic job at creating a
haunting and surreal atmosphere for the film. Sven makes the film complete with
that classic feel of Giallo. Also I have to mention the amazing music, composed
by Sebastian Leverman and co-composed by Nils Weise. The music soundtrack is
hauntingly brilliant and plays with the senses. It adds an overall Giallo
darkened state of tension that you would expect in this style of filmmaking.

Audio/Video:

I feel the audio and video is perfectly displayed. The audio
is crisp. The colors are vibrant. I feel the camera work such as the close-up’s, add that classic Giallo style of filmmaking. It showcases itself spot on. There
is an odd lighting at times, giving a brightness in spots. I feel this just
adds to the odd appeal to the film, giving it more of a classic Drive-In style
of entertainment. The audio and video I feel are also an added reality to the
conclusion of this film.

German Language

Optional English & Spanish Subtitles.

Widescreen Anamorphic 2.35:1.

DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround/Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo

Extras:

My Rating: 5 out of 5

You get a wonderful vast array of extra’s on this wonderful
produced Blu-ray. I am a huge fan of companies that give solid special features
to the fan seeking out high quality, high produced products and this is one of
those high products.

You get a wonderful booklet. 22 pages in length. Gives a
biography of the director. Has production stills. A review by Kier-La Janisse
and also has an interview with the director. There is a forward to the booklet
written by Andreas Marschall.

EXCLUSIVE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK CD comes in the first 3,000
units. An amazing listen to the overall music from the movie. It contains 21
music tracks and is a great listen for any movie fan.

Also you get a baseball card size, card with the image of
Susan Ermich, which is representing a Reel Gore Girl.

BEHIND THE SCENES: This has a running time of a little over
15 minutes. It is what you would expect, you get to see the overall production
of the film. Seeing the crew at work. Watching the actors get ready for their
parts.

DELETED SCENES: This has a combined running time of a little
over 4 minutes.

MUSIC VIDEO CLIP: A running time of 4 minutes and 23
seconds. Showing a music group bringing a heavy metal sound in a sort of promotion
to the film.

2 TRAILER’s: Theatrical trailer with a running time of 1 minute 47 seconds. 2016 Trailer with a running time of 1 minute 59 seconds.

SLIDESHOW: A great little collection of images from the film
and also publicity for the film. This has a running time of 2 minutes and 24
seconds.

Overall:

This is an overall perfect experience. A wonderful
collection of extra’s. Amazing video and audio quality. Wonderful product. A
great Giallo experience of entertainment. A solid tale of performances. Tight
direction. A haunting perfect score. Amazing imagery. Dark deep and bloody
gore. This is a perfect horror tale that leaves the fan of this style of
entertainment perfectly satisfied in all its gory glory.

INFO:

Make sure you head over to http://www.reelgorereleasing.com/ to
buy all the wonderful Blu-rays. The main page that gives you these beautiful
releases on top quality Special Editions.